1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to data processing systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to initializing processor cores in a multiprocessor data processing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some data processing systems are designed with multi-core processors that often have various custom settings, data and parameters that prompt the processor to perform or function in a specific desired manner according to a specific user application. For example, in a multi-core processor, certain instructions might not be implemented directly in the core, but instead are emulated by microcode or firmware executing on the core. In another example, two different implementations of similar logic may be present that result in different performance depending on the number of cores or the number of processors in the system.
It is sometimes desirable to be able to modify the settings, data and parameters of a multi-core processor. In some computer systems, a service processor can be used to update the settings and parameters. However, not all systems are designed with a service processor, and as such, those systems do not typically support field updates of the settings and parameters in the computer systems.